NEWS OF THE MORNING

No. 1:Forget like or dislike, Spurs and Heat just want the title– The San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat square off in Game 1 of The Finals tonight (9 ET, ABC) and perhaps one of the storylines will be whether or not the teams dislike each other. Spurs star Tim Duncan addressed that topic during yesterday’s Finals media day, as did Heat star LeBron James … and so did just about every other player on either side of the matchup. The overall view to take away, as our Steve Aschburner writes, is not about who likes/dislikes whom, but that both teams are simply gunning for a championship — feelings be damned:

With all the yammering about shared respect and mutual dynasties heading into these 2014 Finals, you might expect to find the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs, some night this week, strolling hand in hand along the Riverwalk on a moonlit night.Veteran Miami forward Udonis Haslem made it clear Wednesday, that ain’t happening.

“Just because this series may not be as physical as the Indiana series or may not be as physical as a [past] Chicago series,” Haslem said, “does not mean we like these guys any more.”

An absence of like might not be the same thing as an active dislike, but it’s a reasonable starting point for a potentially long, best-of-seven series that might lend itself to emotions and subplots in ways the 2013 Finals did not. It would take some doing – the Spurs don’t typically seek out headlines, the Heat see no one on San Antonio’s roster who can play the Lance Stephenson knucklehead/pest role.

But if the series is low in vitriol, it still will be high in competition, both sides’ dials cranked hard to the right to take rather than give.

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“I don’t think it’s animosity,” Heat forward Shane Battier said. “Indiana wants what we have – and you could tell, there was animosity on their part. We didn’t give much credence to that, and it wasn’t reciprocal. The Spurs are different. They’ve had serial success over a decade and a half. They want what’s out there and we want what’s out there. It’s not so much they want what we have or we want what they have.”

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“I think that’s why this series was so great last year: It was about basketball,” Battier said. “It wasn’t about talk. it wasn’t about controversy. It was an awesomely officiated series last year – there were no refereeing controversies. There were no technical fouls, no flagrant fouls. It was about basketball.

“How novel for the NBA Finals to be about basketball. I expect the same sort of respect, and it being about the game, as it should be.”

NEWS OF THE MORNING

No. 1:Report: Knicks to talk with Fisher soon; Lakers cooling on him as coach — After Oklahoma City lost in Game 6 of the West finals, Thunder backup point guard Derek Fisher didn’t sound like he was as ready to make the jump into NBA coaching as most thought he’d be. As such, the teams most associated with being interested in him — the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers — backed off a bit to allow him time to decompress after OKC’s loss. The Knicks, according to Marc Stein and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com, remain interested in Fisher and plan to talk with him this week about their opening. Out in L.A., though, interest in the ex-Lakers fan favorite may be cooling, writes Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

Phil Jackson‘s first substantive chat with Derek Fisher about the New York Knicks’ coaching job is scheduled to take place this week, according to sources close to the situation.

Sources told ESPN.com Monday that Jackson is planning to connect with Fisher by week’s end, giving the Oklahoma City Thunder guard some time to decompress after his team was eliminated by San Antonio Saturday night in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals.

One source cautioned that the discussion shouldn’t be classified as a formal interview, given the long and close working relationship between Jackson and Fisher during their two stints together as coach and player with the Los Angeles Lakers. But another source close to the process told ESPN.com that he thinks Fisher will ultimately find the allure of coaching in New York under Jackson too difficult to pass up.

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Fisher said Sunday he remains undecided about retirement, but sources say Jackson continues to hold out hope he can persuade the 39-year-old to make the immediate jump to coaching — as Jason Kidd did last season with Brooklyn — after Fisher’s 18 seasons as a player.

“I’m still struggling with the results of [the series],” Fisher told local reporters Sunday. “I haven’t [had] a chance to talk to my wife and kind of step back emotionally from the end of the season. That’s important to do, so that whatever is next, there has to be a separation from the end of the season and what just happened and then I can go from there.”

As the Los Angeles Lakers remain cool on the pursuit of Derek Fisher as a coaching candidate, the New York Knicks continue to cement themselves as the strong frontrunner to hire him, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

So far, the Lakers have expressed an exclusive desire to explore experienced head coaches in their search, and there isn’t yet an indication that team officials plan to seriously consider Fisher for the job, league sources said.

Knicks president Phil Jackson has been eager to sell Fisher, 39, on the possibility of Jackson mentoring him as part of a direct move from Fisher’s playing career into the Knicks head coaching job. Fisher is taking a few days to finalize his thoughts on the likely end of his 18-year playing career before fully engaging in talks to become a head coach.

Former Charlotte coach Sam Vincent, who played for the Bulls during Jackson’s days as an assistant in Chicago and also played for the Magic, continues to captain the cause that would have Jackson work remotely (likely from Los Angeles, where his longtime girlfriend, Jeanie Buss, remains with the Lakers) most of the time. Vincent would operate in a front-office role in the plan, while the team would be coached by a protégé (or two) of Jackson’s.

According to the sources, the latest version of the proposal has Pacers assistant and ex-Lakers assistant Brian Shaw coaching the team and Hall of Famer and Bulls ambassador Scottie Pippen as the lead assistant. And as if Jackson’s potential price tag wasn’t daunting enough (he earned $12 million in his last year with the Lakers), one of the sources said he is asking for a slice of minority ownership in the franchise as well. The hope, of course, would be for Jackson to use his cachet to convince Dwight Howard to remain in Orlando for the long-term. Jackson’s agent, Todd Musburger, did not return a call for comment.

May 24, 2012 · 10:26AM

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HANG TIME PLAYOFF HEADQUARTERS – We can see it now: Peaches and Herb’s “Reunited” blaring from the sound system and a suited and booted Shaquille O’Neal walking to the podium as he’s introduced as the Orlando Magic’s new general manager.

Dan asked Barkley if Shaquille O’Neal has told him he’s is interested in the Orlando GM job. “Yes,” Barkley said. “I do know he’s interested in the job and he’s going to interview for it.”

Barkley said O’Neal and Dwight Howard have had issues in the past, but that doesn’t mean Shaq can’t go to Orlando.

Barkley thinks Howard needs to make a decision and stay or go in Orlando. He’s sick of talking about it.

“They’re trying to do anything they can to keep Dwight there and get a buzz,” Barkley said. “They have to do something whether Dwight stays there or not. Bringing in Shaquille is an attention getter.”

This gives folks a license to let their imaginations run wild with images of O’Neal back in the city where his Hall of Fame playing career began, the same city he calls home. If Shaq is on the short list of people the Magic want to talk to about replacing Otis Smith, it is noteworthy. Especially considering the nature of his departure from the Magic in 1996 for the Los Angeles Lakers.

O’Neal hasn’t even finished his first year of retirement and already his name is popping up in a GM search. That’s impressive, no matter how it all transpired.

May 23, 2012 · 10:03PM

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – With the eyes of the basketball-loving public focused squarely on the playoffs and who will emerge from the Eastern Conference semifinals, we decided to take a mini-detour this week on the Hang Time Podcast.

With all the news coming out of Orlando, we simply could not let an opportunity to dig a little deeper into the goings on down there slip away.

We also had to talk about the potential replacements for both Van Gundy, the coach, and Smith, the general manager. Names like Brian Shaw, Jerry Sloan and Phil Jackson, yes the Zen Master himself, have popped up on the short list of replacements for Van Gundy. Meanwhile, names like Donnie Walsh, Jeff Bower and TNT’s very own Shaquille O’Neal have popped up on the surprising short list of candidates to replace Smith.

(We first heard these rumblings about O’Neal being a candidate Monday night … talk about things getting interesting if the Big Fella were to return to the Magic after all these years.)

You get conversation about all that and more, we talk plenty of playoffs, flagrant fouls, suspensions and everything else with our main man Evan Dunlap of the OPP.

League sources said the Hornets’ brass wasn’t in agreement with Bower’s stance, and the team hastily sent out a release the next day clarifying with a statement from owner George Shinn that they plan to continue building their team around Paul.

“This is something that we felt working with Jeff that we needed to find a different way of approaching our work, and again we felt it was a good time to get a clean start,’’ team president Hugh Weber said. “You cannot do the same things and expect a fresh result. It was a matter of our organization growing in a way our ownership would feel comfortable.

“We felt we needed to be progressive and different and look at things from a prospective. Again, we talked about this before — you can’t keep doing the same things and expect a different result.’’

It appeared, however, the “mutual” parting of ways caught Bower off guard as the decision occurred while he was evaluating talent on the Hornets’ Vegas Summer League roster and finalizing a deal to re-sign free-agent backup center Aaron Gray.
Bower, who still sounded a bit stunned that his tenure with the Hornets was over, said he wasn’t aware the perceived rocky relationship with Paul.

“I had a great 15 years with the organization,’’ said Bower, who interviewed to be the New Jersey Nets’ president earlier this month before withdrawing his name from consideration. “I had a chance to work just about every role, and I learned from each one of them. I’m sure that I am going to have other opportunities.’’

We pounded on Bower pretty good when he fired Byron Scott and then wound up replacing him as the Hornets’ coach. But we never had a major problem with the work he did as GM.

Sure, the Hornets overpaid for Peja Stojakovic and traded for Emeka Okafor, but every GM has a few skeletons he’ll never get rid of. Bower seemed to be holding things together during a tough time for the Hornets … and then the free agent frenzy hit and Paul’s name kept popping up in rumors.

July 5, 2010 · 8:27AM

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Posted by Sekou Smith

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – We thought we had a good handle on this free agent frenzy thing here at the hideout heading into the 4th of July weekend.

— LeBron James was headed to Chicago or staying home in Cleveland, with the Bulls having a slight lead after three days worth of recruiting pitches delivered by all the contending teams and a decision set for sometime today.

— Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh were probably headed to Miami or maybe Chicago, if James decided to stay home instead of joining them on South Beach to form their own version of the Big 3.

— Everyone else was going wherever the money was best, as Rudy Gay and Joe Johnson made clear with their choices to stick with their teams.

Now that the grill smoke has cleared and we’ve cleaned up all the fireworks debris from the yard, everything is all mixed up.

Bosh has faded into the background a bit, though we can always find him on Twitter, but remains the one player both James and Wade would love to pair with wherever they go to chase their championship dreams.

July 1, 2010 · 12:12PM

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Posted by Sekou Smith

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – Here we go again with these Chris Paul rumors.

Never mind that the Hornets have made it clear that the do not intend to trade their franchise player and superstar. Somehow Paul’s name keeps finding its way into the speculation regarding LeBron James.

Now that Paul’s good friend and former coach Byron Scott is headed to Cleveland as the Cavaliers’ next coach, you knew the Paul-James connection wouldn’t be far behind.